SELLutions

“In fact,” he went on, “your choice of colors
is nowhere as extensive as your competitor’s, who was just in here this
morning, by the way.”

Bob hated
this type of prospect. And for some
reason, the past five months had been filled with them. Gosh,
thought Bob, this is going to be one of those meetings where he raises the
hundred objections and I try to beat them down one after another. There’s got to be a better way to make a
living. “I didn’t
know you were looking at anyone else,” responded Bob.

“Well,
it’s what I should do. And I’ll tell you
this now, right upfront, her prices are extremely favorable. I doubt you could beat them.”

Here
goes, thought Bob, start knocking them down. “Let’s talk about the colors; our colors are by far the…” Two hours
later, Bob crawled out of the office with a signed purchase order. Totally exhausted, he got into his car,
called the office and read them the order.

“The
competition has got a proposal on the table,” responded Bob, “you wouldn’t
believe what I had to do to get what we did.”
With a felling of dread he added, “I’m going back next week to see if I
can knock them out.”

Bob was so afraid that he was going to lose
the client that he was prepared to do just about anything to keep him. Bob had the guts to spend another two hours
butting heads, but he did not have the guts to find out if he really needed to
do this.

Taking a
sale away, taking yourself out of the running, and then waiting for a response
from the prospect/customer takes real guts. This is not a technique for those with weak knees. No one can fault
Bob for his dedication to task. And most
salespeople and sales managers would agree that in the above story, which
happens every day, there was nothing else to do but “gut it out.” But there is something else.

Before Bob launched into meeting every
objection, he could have done something very simple. He could have said, “You might not realize
what you are telling me; I want to make sure that I have it right. The competition has more colors, the price is
good, they were here this morning, I guess it’s over for me. When you gave the order to the salesperson
this morning, was she excited?” And then
wait for a response from the prospect, no matter how long it takes. In order for this
technique to work, your really have to mean it and be prepared to “walk out the
door” and not look back. If you cannot
do this, this technique will blow up in your face. However, if you are truly prepared to walk
away, this technique is incredibly powerful at eliminating objections. There are
a multitude of words and gestures that you can use to “take it away” depending
on what you are trying to accomplish and with whom.

Customers
and prospects alike are famous for stating, in so many words, that the other
guy can do better for less. In essence,
you want to mirror back to them what they just told you and then state, not
ask, “You did place the order.” Then do
not speak until you get a response. Either the order has been placed or not. If is has, it probably really is over for you. If it hasn’t, then you deserve to know the reasons
why. And when you find out why? You are
now learning what you need to do to get the order or keep the order.

Prospects
who gave given all the indications of being ready to buy, but who just resist
closing, are
especially susceptible to having it taken away. “Bill, you have given every
indication that you are ready to buy. But for some reason you just aren’t sharing, you keep stopping
short. I think I should leave.” Then wait for a response.

MORAL: Take it away ONLY if you are prepared to walk
out the door. Once you take it away,
wait for a response regardless of how long it takes.